Last weekend, there was a party downtown. People from near and far came to have some fun, enjoy some delicious food, listen to quality music and cheer for the fireworks show - all while wearing their favorite boots.

This year's Bootfest was another weekend of fun and a positive experience. Victoria City Manager Charmelle Garrett said the official numbers on attendance, sales and more are not available yet, but the city does know the event was well attended with thousands of revelers filling the downtown area. There were no criminal incidents reported at this year's event, Garrett said.

We are glad the event went so smoothly. Bootfest is a great festival that we have begun to look forward to every year. Even though the final numbers are not yet available, we feel the event was a success in that it brought visitors to downtown, encouraged community participation, offered first-rate musical performances, created a uniquely Victorian festival and much more.

The city's goal to make the festival a self-sustaining event is a good one, and we wish it success in that effort. But we also know the current festival is a good investment of the city's Hotel Occupancy Tax funds. The large amount of attendance and participation shows how well this event is serving our community.

All of this would not be possible without the hard work of all the men and women who helped plan, prepare and run every part of Bootfest. We applaud all of the hard-working people who had a part in bringing this festival back year after year.

More than 400 people volunteered to help run Bootfest this year, Garrett said. The volunteers gave of their time to help make sure Victoria's festival ran smoothly and was safe and fun for everyone. Thank you to all of the volunteers who showed up and served their community. We appreciate all you've done and hope more and more people will be inspired to volunteer as the years go by.

Bootfest was a huge event that drew thousands to downtown Victoria. We are impressed by its repeated success. We hope this will become a long-lasting event that will serve the Victoria community for years to come. Thank you to everyone who was involved in this celebration of Victoria and Western culture. We look forward to next year.

This editorial reflects the views of the Victoria Advocate's editorial board.